By Janet H. Cho

Moviegoers couldn't resist the chance to see Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway reprise their roles as fashion magazine diva Miranda Priestly and her former assistant in Walt Disney's The Devil Wears Prada 2.

The 20th Century Studios' remake of the 2006 hit film cat walked to the top of the domestic box office with an estimated $77 million take through Sunday, according to Comscore.

AMC Entertainment, the nation's largest movie theater chain, offered luxury-inspired popcorn handbags in select theaters on opening day, perhaps contributing to its $32.5 million in ticket sales on Friday.

Comscore's head of marketplace trends Paul Dergarabedian said The Devil Wears Prada 2 overperformed in international markets, where it raked in $156.6 million -- more than twice what it sold in the U.S. and Canada -- for an estimated $233.6 million global opening. The film brought back screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna and director David Frankel, "and of course having pretty much all of the original cast and creative team made it a must-see for fans of the original," he said.

The original The Devil Wears Prada sold $27.5 million its opening weekend and went on to take in more than $326.4 million worldwide, with 62% of its sales, or $201.7 million, from outside of North America, according to Comscore. Some reviewers have been underwhelmed by the sequel in comparison.

For Hollywood overall, this weekend's estimated $172.5 million in domestic box office sales is 18% higher than the same weekend last year, bringing the year to date box office to $2.79 billion, up 14% from this point in 2025, according to Comscore.

"This is shaping up to be one of the best summer movie seasons of all time and certainly since the pandemic," Dergarabedian said. "Maybe the industry has a shot at rivaling the performance of the epic Barbenheimer-powered summer of 2023, where the domestic tally hopped over the $4 billion mark." That's a reference to Warner Bros.' Barbie and Universal Pictures' Oppenheimer, which both opened on July 21, 2023.

Although Memorial Day weekend used to be considered the beginning of the summer movie season, Hollywood has moved that start date up three weeks to the first Friday in May, to give studios and theaters 18 weeks of summer movies, Dergarabedian told Barron's.

The 18-week period from the first Friday in May through Labor Day Monday accounts for nearly 40% on average of the total year's domestic box office sales, "so it's vitally important to the industry," Dergarabedian said.

Eric Handler, senior media and entertainment analyst for Roth, said The Devil Wears Prada 2 was expected to have an $80 million opening weekend, and that the domestic box office is still benefiting from Michael, which opened last weekend.

Liongate's Michael , the musical biopic starring Jackson's nephew Jaafar Jackson as the pop superstar, sold $54 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $183.8 million. As expected, it has performed even better internationally, especially in Latin America, selling an estimated $423.9 million worldwide, according to Comscore.

In Mexico alone, Michael opened with $139.8 million (compared with $97.2 million in the U.S. and Canada), and has sold $168.5 million to date, according to BoxOfficeMojo.

In third place, Universal Pictures and Nintendo 's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, sold $12.1 million in its fifth weekend and has a domestic box office cumulative of $402.7 million. The animated hit has sold $924.2 million worldwide.

Amazon MGM Studios' space epic Project Hail Mary is in fourth place with $8.6 million. It has sold $318.3 million domestically and a total of $638.4 million globally, including $93.6 million on IMAX screens, since its March 20 opening.

Handler expects Warner Bros.' action adventure Mortal Kombat II, opening this Friday, to contribute to May's box office, but said year-over-year comparisons could prove "a lot more challenging" after that.

He said there is growing concern about the Memorial Day weekend opening of Walt Disney's Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, especially when compared with last year's Memorial Day weekend openings of Disney's Lilo & Stitch, which opened with $146 million, and Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning, which opened with $64 million.

Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2026 15:17 ET (19:17 GMT)

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